she rescued us in many ways. she became our mom. >> reporter: he spent his teen-aged years working in his father's saloon in new york city. d you d to like help pick fights with your dad. >> yes. this was an irish brewery. >> reporter: what did you get from all that? >> wow. you know, the thing i learned about the most was know... was that there were so many actors who were waiters and bartenders. they would always be drunk. it would be like, "i don't know where i can get a job." so i decided, you know, i'm not going to go down that path. >> reporter: it was his father's third wife famous for the vagina mono logs who put him on a different path by introducing him to acting. >> she saw something in me before i did when i was about 16 years old. and she put me in class. >> reporter: he got his screen name dylan from her too, mcdermott's original first name was mark. >> she and my father were going to have a baby. they were going to name the baby dylan. around the same time i had to change my name. she miscarried so